The present invention relates to packaging machines, and more particularly to apparatus for affixing articles to the exterior of packages.
Foodstuffs of different types, e.g. fruit juices, fruit yoghurts or ice-creams are packaged frequently at present in nonreturnable packages of portion size. The contents of the packages are accessible via a suction tube hole or via an openable lid and are intended to be emptied with the help of a suction tube or a spoon. For reasons of hygiene, the suction tubes or spoons are generally wrapped in a protective sleeve and applied to the outside of the packages by means of tape or some other adhesive.
The attachment of each individually wrapped object of the suction tube or spoon type to the wall surface of the packing container may take place mechanically if the objects and the protective sleeves surrounding the objects are mutually connected to one another in such a manner that a coherent band is produced. The individually wrapped objects are separated from this band only in conjunction with the application to the individual packing containers.
It is generally desirable to provide a high-capacity machine for the application of suction tubes, spoons or other objects to prefabricated packing containers. It is assumed in this that the objects are wrapped in protective sleeves and are adapted to be fed to the machine in the form of a coherent band, that is to say the individual objects are placed transversely between carrier bands which are sealed to each other around the suction tubes so that together they form a coherent line of closed protective sleeves.
A machine for the application of suction tubes to prefabricated substantially parallelepipedic packing containers is known and described in Swedish Pat. No. 7801067-5. This machine has a rotatable driving element for the suction tubes wrapped in the protective sleeve and a path of advance for the packing containers. The packing containers are oriented in relation to the suction tubes before application with the help of packing container carrier means which are joined to an endless chain and arranged to be swivelled around an axis extending transversely in relation to the path so as to make possible an application of suction tubes diagonally over one side wall of the packing containers. The machine operates intermittently which, together with the relatively cumbersome orienting procedure means that the machine cannot be run at a speed which would allow it to readily be used together with modern, high-capacity packing machines.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for the application of objects, and in particular suction tubes or spoons wrapped in protective sleeves, to packing containers, this arrangement not being subject to the disadvantages of earlier machines having complicated arrangements for the handling and orienting of the packing containers and the intermittent method of operation associated therewith.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for the application of objects to packing containers, this arrangement being capable of operating continuously and at an appreciably higher speed than previously known machines of a similar type.
These and other objects have been achieved in accordance with the invention by supporting the object to be attached to the packing container on a carriage that moves synchronously with the conveyor on which the containers are supported. The carriage is movable along a part of the conveyor and is adapted to perform a working stroke synchronously with the movement of the conveyor.
By placing the means which advances and transfers the object to the individual packing containers on a reciprocally movable carriage, the transfer of the objects can take place without the feed motion of the packing containers having to be interrupted, thereby ensuring an appreciably increased working speed compared with previously known, similar machines. Moreover, because of the oblique setting, of the driving means handling the objects and the path of advance of the objects in relation to the packing containers passing through the arrangement, a time-consuming separate orienting of each individual packing container prior to the transfer of the object to the container is avoided. This results in a greatly simplified construction and an increased working speed.